Tube-handling apparatus.



No. 721,006. PATBNTED FEB.1'7, 190s.

' r. J. BRAY, JR.

TUBE HANDLING APPARATUS.

APPLIGATION FILED SEPT. 2, 1902.

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T. J. BRAY, JR. TUBE HANDLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2 1902.

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PATENTED FEB. 17, 1903.

1" J. BRAY, JR. TUBB HANDLING APPARATUS.

APPLIOATIOH FILED SEPT. 2, 1902;

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UNITED STATES PATE T Grrrcn.

THOMAS J. BRAY, JR, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

TUBE-HANDLING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION tbrming part of Letters Patent No. 721,006, dated February 17, 1903.

Application filed September 2, 1902- Serial No." 121,815. (lie model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. BRAY, J12, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Tube Handling Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view showing myimproved transfer apparatus in the form shown in Fig. 4 in connection with a set of weldingrolls. Fig. 2 is a detail plan view showing one form of the troughs and transfer mechanism. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of Fig. 2. Figs. .1: and 5 are end elevations showing modifications of my invention.

My invention relates to the transferring of welded tubes or pipes to the rollers leading to the sizing-rolls or the returning of the same for reworking; and it is especially designed for use in connection with a furnace having two or more sets of welding-rolls.

The objectof the invention is to provide an improved transfer mechanism by which a welded tube may be transferred to the sizingrolls without interfering with the rod carrying the welding-ball for the other set of welding-rolls or the operation of the other set of rolls, and, further, to provide means for returning second runs by passing them beneath the transfer mechanism.

In the drawings, 2 2 and 3 3 represent two pairs of welding-rolls located side by side and staggered relatively to each other in front of the furnace-opening. In front of these welding-rolls I provide atransfer apparatus, comprising, as shown in Fig. 3, troughs 4 5 for receiving the welded tube from the weldingrolls. These troughs have arms at 5' keyed to rock-shafts 6 6, which are adapted to be rocked by suitable systems of levers 7 7, actuated by hand or any suitable motor, so as to raise the troughs from their normal receiving position (shown in full lines in Fig. 3) to their discharging position. (Shown by dotted lines.) An inclined skid 8 or any other suitable transfer device extends from beneath the trough 4 5 to a roller-table 9 in line with the sizingrolls 10.

In using the apparatus the tubes are passed through the rolls 2 2 and 3 3 over welding balls and rods. In Fig. 1 I show such welding-ball 11 and rod 12 in connection with the rolls 2 2, the rod 12 being supported at the froutend by a usualswinging catch 13. The rods are drawn from the tubes by suitable means-for example, by frictional rolls 14cand to transfer the tube from the trough the rock-shaft is operated by the levers 7 and carries the trough to the elevated position, (shown'in Fig. 3,) whereupon the tube rolls from the trough down upon the skid or table 8 and is delivered thereby to the table of the sizing-rolls. transfer device, may be pivoted at 8, and if the tube dropped thereon is found to be defective the skid may be reversed by tilting it into the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3 and the pipe delivered to the right to be reworked.

The tubes delivered from the trough 5 pass under the companion trough 4:. It will be seen that the transfer mechanism does not extend over the troughs, and both transfer mechanisms can be moved at once, as neither can interfere with the operation of the other. The welding-rolls may therefore be used si multaneously, if desired, and this important advantage results from the fact that the tubes are delivered from one transfer-trough beneath and not above the other trough.

In Fig. 4 I show a modification of my invention in which the troughs 4 5 are stationary, but are slotted or interrupted trans- In Fig. 5 I show another modification which 95 operates in the same way as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, except that the trough 5 moves downwardly in delivering the tubes to the skid, and it thus delivers the tube to the left of the.

shaft 6 instead of the right, as in Figs. 2 and 3. too

Other modifications of my invention may be made by the skilled mechanic, the essen- The skid 8, which acts as a 65 In this case tial being that the transfer mechanism be constructed to deliver the tubes from one multiple trough under the other trough or troughs for the purpose of preventing interference of one tube with the other.

I claim-- 1. Tube-weldingapparatus,comprisingsets of welding-rolls, receiving-troughs therefor,

and transfer mechanism constructed to deliver the tubes from one of the troughs laterally under an adjacent trough; substantially as described.

2. Tube-Weldingapparatus,comprisingsets of welding-rolls, receiving-troughs therefor, and transfer mechanism constructed to deliver the tubes from one of the troughs laterally under an adjacent trough, and a transfer 

